As we're all for trying different things, we've set up a test Hugelkultur mound. The idea of Hugelkultur, a German technique, is that you bury woody wastes under your bed for them to rot down and enrich the soil over time. We had a lot of alder roots that were lying around from when an alder was dug up. Alder is a nitrogen fixing tree, so it should bring a good amount of nitrogen to the garden, but it also has a reputation for not rotting, a reason why it is chosen for making posts for use in waterlogged or even submerged areas. So I guess we'll see if it was a good choice or not!
Our method was very basic, as you can see in the pictures. We just piled the roots in a shallow hole, then added manure, earth and compost on it until it was covered. We'll be planting squashes, and possibly beans and corn in this bed.
1 comment:
Some people in my community garden do something along these lines. I think it's often called trench composting. The rational behind it usually is that compost is unwanted by many of my fellow gardeners, and burying it in a deep hole is the best way to get rid of it.
What you guys did looks like it should work well, except of course the wood may take some time to break down.
Getting rid of wood has always been an issue in my garden. I haven't found any good solutions yet.
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